What's the future hold for Chief Illiniwek?

February 16, 2007|By Chicago Tribune

Unless a judge stops them, University of Illinois officials will announce Friday that Chief Illiniwek, the controversial and storied mascot who has performed for 81 years, is to dance for the last time next week.

University officials had made extensive preparations for Friday's announcement. But according to a source familiar with the university's plan, the process took a turn Thursday when the two students who portray the chief filed a lawsuit against the university and the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

The students are seeking a restraining order that would prevent the university from dumping the chief and would lift the NCAA's sanctions against the university's sports teams. A Champaign County judge will hear their application Friday morning in Urbana.

The university will decide how to proceed after that hearing, the source said.

The chief, a barefoot student who performs at athletic events in a buckskin costume and feather headdress, made his first appearance on Oct. 30, 1926, during halftime of the Illinois-Pennsylvania football game. The tradition would end Wednesday at Assembly Hall, during halftime of the varsity men's basketball game against Michigan, the final home game for the Illini.

Retiring the chief would be a victory for those who have pressured the university for years to dump the mascot, which they say is humiliating and creates a hostile environment on campus.

It also would open the way for the university to host postseason games--currently prohibited by the NCAA because Chief Illiniwek violates the organization's rules--including next month's National Invitation Tournament in basketball.

But the university's decision would be a bitter defeat for those who have lobbied hard to keep Chief Illiniwek, saying it is a revered tradition that honors Native American culture. It also could mean a hit in alumni donations as the university embarks on a multibillion-dollar fundraising campaign.

Steven Raquel of Naperville, who portrayed the chief from 1992 to 1993, said he would be disappointed if the tradition ended with only a few days' notice.

"It is a dishonorable ending to 80 years of an honorable tradition," Raquel said. "The tradition and the origins and the efforts that we have made over the years have only been done in respect of the history of Illinois and the history of the Illinois tribe.

"To see that linkage and that appreciation go by the wayside ... without an opportunity to find common ground, is disappointing."